U–Pb zircon ages from tuffaceous beds in the Terreneuvian to Cambrian Series 2 sections of Avalonian southern New Brunswick, Canada: new constraints on chronostratigraphic correlations and the Cambrian time scale

Abstract Avalonian sections in the Saint John area, southern New Brunswick, have long contributed to global understanding of Cambrian chronostratigraphy. A tuffaceous bed in the Ratcliffe Brook Formation (RBF) in the Somerset Street section dated at c. 531 Ma has traditionally been considered to post-date small shelly fossils attributed to the Watsonella crosbyi Zone in the Hanford Brook section. A fine-grained tuffaceous bed approximately 8 m stratigraphically lower in the Somerset Street section yields a chemical abrasion isotope dilution–thermal ionization mass spectrometry zircon age of 532.3 ± 0.3 Ma; a tuffaceous carbonate unit in the lower RBF in Hanford Brook gives an age of 531.5 ± 0.3 Ma. Crystal and crystal-lithic tuff beds near the top of the RBF yield ages of 520.3 ± 0.3 Ma (in Hanford Brook) and 519.1 ± 0.3 Ma (in Ratcliffe Brook). The new ages confirm the correlation between the Somerset Street and Hanford Brook sections based on acritarchs and make the association of small shelly fossils in the Hanford Brook section younger than 531 Ma. This result is relevant to ongoing discussions on the age of the base of undefined Cambrian Stage 2. The radiometric ages also support a young age for the upper part of the RBF, perhaps extending into Epoch 2.